Pink!

This is from a few weeks ago we had a free day to paint so I decided to do a pink flower in honor of Breast cancer awareness month in October. I'm still not 100% done but here's a little bit of the process. I haven't decided what to do with the background yet I was thinking black then frame it with a white matting and a black frame.... Ill figure it out...

Color.

I haven't posted in a while. So a little update before I post the project I just finished. In my color theory class we are experimenting with how color acts when put in different situations. For this project we could do whatever we wanted as long as it is 18x24 and uses color. I decided to take a very structured approach which is something that normally happens for me unfortunately. I'm so happy with the way it turned out. It took about 8 hours, but now it is DONE! Unfortunately you can't see all the thought put into it because of colors showing up different in the picture. It is very methodically put together in some ways but random at the same time.

Leaves Leaves Leaves....

Well my project proposal changed a little bit as I started working on this assignment. First off, I was asked to kind of take out text entirely and try and get my point across without using any kind of wording. I wasn't really sure how to do this so this is what i have ended up with so far. Secondly, I'm not very skilled in photoshop and i'm still picking up on the program. I'm fully open to any kind of critique on this piece as I am still not really sure how I feel about it or if I'm even done. Suggestions? HELP! THANKS!

Can't decide which one.

New Semester, New Art

Well it's been almost two months that I have even been on my blog here, but with another school year comes more art classes which reminded me that I have this lovely blog to post my things too! I'm taking some pretty neat classes this semester, and I'm lucky enough to be taking another digital class, this time digital manipulation. I'm starting my first real photoshop project and the only requirements are that is has to use scanned and photographed images, involve some force of nature, and be a collage. I plan on simply scanning some images of leaves and twigs and what not and layering them ontop of photos taken by me of the tree tops. I hope to have the layer of scanned images spell out the word transform. So stay tuned there's more to come!

Another Forgotten Memory

     This has been the most emotional piece I have every done. What it means to me is just so important and special in so many ways, but mostly it is a memory of my grandma. Obviously, not a specific memory as I was only like 9 months when the original picture was taken, but a memory of everything my grandma is and was to me. I feel like I have finally accomplished something special and meaningful and it is definitely something I am proud of. It represents how someone you know can start out so normal, and then everything just changes so much that you don't even know who they are anymore.
     The process of actually making this piece was extremely emotional to me, and I started feeling it before I even started as my previous post states. I first sketched out the image on a large piece of illustration board and every single line i added just gave me more and more emotion. Every mark brought my grandma's image more and more to life for me. By the time I had the roughest outline possible, I was sitting in my living room sobbing for lost time, for forgotten memories, for just being sad about her no longer being who she used to be. It was somewhat of a healing experience and oddly also a growing experience. For the first time in my life, art was a way for me to express myself in the truest way possible. It is a moment I will never forget; not only because of the images and video that remain, but because it was a growing experience for me as a person and an artist.

 

Emotions.

     I have finished my set up for my final. I knew the exact image I wanted to do but once I started breaking it down I am really beginging to feel the emotion of this piece. I really hope I can do the piece justice and get out the meaning and emotion that I am feeling. 

Final Proposal

        What is the concept of your final project?
For my final project I wanted to do something not only to meet the criteria of the project, but also do something that has significant meaning to me or my life. Instantly, I knew what I wanted to do. I have a picture of me and my grandma when I was a baby, my grandma is in very bad condition right now with Alzheimers deteriorating her health. I plan on recreating the picture using colored scraps of paper and then slowly blow the paper away.
        Why does this particular subject matter interest you?
This is very important to me because it represents the affect that alzheimers has on a person and their family members.
        How do you plan to make this concept visible through time-based media?
I plan on recording the process of putting the piece together then also the process of blowing the paper away. I would also like to have still shots of the piece as the paper is blown away.
        What ideas do you have for finished presentation?
I would like to blow up the still shot images to show the series of being in good health and memory to having that deteriorate away to nothing.

Final Footprints

 The first time I started the paint went thru the canvas onto my patio. So I had to do lots of scrubbing.

 

Off to Meijer I went to get a plastic drop cloth to go underneath my canvas one.

 Finally we could start.

 

 Just Because this one^ makes me laugh.

There was lots of falling in the paint.

 And by the end we all looked like this

Footprints

I have a few friends here in Mansfield who have made  a huge difference on how my first year out of my parents house and my first year of college went, and I wanted to figure out a way to put that into an art piece. There's the extremely over used quote of "Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart." by Eleanor Roosevelt, and as cheesy as it sounds I feel like that describes my friends that I've made here in Mansfield. So to take and make art from the clichéd idea that I have decided to dedicate my performance piece to my friends.

The Piece Itself.
I'm simply going to have my friends take off their socks and shoes and roll up their pants and walk around on a huge piece of drop cloth canvas with paint covering their feet.

I am trying to decided what colors to use. I need a total of five or I may just paint the whole canvas black, white, or grey and then get a bunch of colors as a representation of turning what started out asa bad year into a bright colorful one.

My problem occurs when I try and figure out when and where to actually put the piece together.

I plan on recording from ground level to show everyone walking around and then take pictures at random points in time as the layers of paint begin to build up and shift into different blends and shades of color.

First Experimental Film

     When I was deciding where to do my filming i was immediately attracted to filming in my apartment simply because it is where I spend the most time. But I felt like I should limit it to one area. I ended up choosing my bedroom because I felt like there were more interesting things to film there. I wasn't trying to make sense of things when I was recording since it is experimental I wanted to just go with the flow. Once I had all of my film I had some very random things from socks being tossed into a drawer to painting my toe nails and lighting candles. None of those things did i choose to use though. I chose two very simple films: me blinking and a clock ticking. I manipulated the footage by overlaying, cropping, and adjusting the shape. The audio I started with was just a jumble of sound and didn't really work with my footage. So, I ended up going into Audacity and creating my own sound that I wanted to work with my film.
     Honestly, I was having a hard time finding meaning in my film. But the more I thought about an played with my idea it shows how time just repeats itself and the blinking repetition really plays on that. I don't really know if it conveys anything from my location, but maybe that a lot of my time is spent there.

Sneak Peak

Here's a preview of some of my footage for my film project I'm working on.

Film

For my experimental film project, I am doing all my recording in my bedroom.  This just seems to be an obvious choice since it is where I spend most of my time. Boring picture and a lot of white. Oh well, it happens.

I've never worked with film so I'm a little anxious to see how this goes.... well keep posted.

Sound.

This is my sound composition using some sounds that i recorded in and outside of my apartment. It starts out with the ticking of the clock representing how quite and calm it is in the morning. You can hear the process of me going out the door and then all of that calm sort of stops there is the sound of the chimes and birds and that would normally seem peaceful but there there is so much industrial sound. You can hear the high way traffic and all kinds of other cars. That sound all starts to build up and then i switch it back to the ticking of the clock. I really like the dramatic feel it gives to the piece. It kind of represents just taking a time out from all of the distractions of the day and trying once again to find that calm.

Wind Chimes

Deep Listening

This picture was captured after I did my deep listening.

I did my listening in the Art Studio during my morning class. I heard miltiple people talking and the buzz of conversation. Also I heard alot of machinery. There was a blender that was running off and on during the 10 minutes and also a fan and heater running. The Blender was a very dull sound and the fan seemed to change sound on a regular basis with a sort of squeaking sound. There was the sound of paper ripping and people walking around. These sounds are all what would seam to be very common in an art studio. It's happening all around me. People are laughing, but there are some angry tones in the voices of some. This is once again common to an art studio. It shows the process of being pleased or unhappy with a project. There is a hurried, busy mood that goes along with the sounds in the room. People are somewhat rushing to get their projects done. All the while, the fan and blender are still repeated their patterns of buzzing, humming, and squeeking. Although there is a very vast spread of sounds that occur they all seem to go together, as if they are suppose to be happening at that time. Without the bustling sound the studio would seem less active and productive.

Color Animation

I created this piece by drawing on a chalk board. I really like the idea of shifting a piece rather than recreate or redraw an image multiple times. So I just added or subtracted from the same board to create my changing images. I added the background in first just to set the scene. That part was the easy part. When it came time for me to add in the little people it was a little more challenging to get them to be moving the way I wanted them to. The only problem I had with the materials themselves was that sometimes a build up of chalk on the board would move and cause a black spot on the board. This was an issue because I didn't want to take any chalk off the board because I wanted a shift in the drawing not recreating it. The chalk build up eventually shifted the color a little bit, but I don't think it took away from the imaging. If anything, I think it added to the overall imaging. For me, I think this video just shows that sometimes things aren't always what they first appear to be. Not everything always has to be so black and white, but it's our job to create that color. I think the feel that comes from this video is somewhat optimistic. The conflict in this video isn't necessarily and argument between people, but a conflict between a person and the environment around them. It is resolved by creating a unique way to find color and happiness in the world.

George Rush Darker with the Day

          The exhibition by George Rush was a compilation of Pantings done in different grey scales. It looked to be done in acrylic paints. All the paintings were all displayed to be centered at about eye level. There were very clean straight lines between objects in the painting. The paintings are all of windows some looking from the outside and some looking from the inside. The set up of the exhibition was two sets of parallel walls forming a square to stand in. The viewers of the exhibition seemed to stand in the middle, and then turn from that one point to face each painting. After they did this they seemed to go closer to better examine each painting. The wall that each painting hung on was specifically made for this exhibition. Then George Rush came to the gallery to paint these walls to hang his paintings. The paintings on the actual wall were pretty much the same on each wall. The set up of the exhibition was very important to the actual content of the paintings. As you entered the exhibit the first painting of a window was looking from the outside in. After you walked around the wall the other four paintings formed a square, and the windows were painted in the view from the inside looking out. The set up of the exhibition, I think, was the most important part. Without the set up being the way it was the views of the paintings would make absolutely no sense.

         The first painting you saw when you walked into the gallery was a painting of a large window. You seemed to be standing on the outside of the window looking in. But, the inside of the window was black. It was very simple. There was no objects in this painting. The drapery had shadows from the different pieces of the window.

          After you walked past the wall, the gallery opened up into four  smaller walls. Directly behind the first window you saw, was another window that was the exact oposite of the window on the other side. It shows the window looking from the inside out. The window pane was very detailed and showed alot of depth. The shadow of the window panes is shown on the drapery.

          As you turned in the gallery there was other paintings on each wall. Each of the paintings shows a table and two chairs. The each view of the table showed different views of the objects on the table and even different objects that were hidden behind an object in another view. The table top was  very reflective. There was very distinct shadows and highlights, and the light seemed to be coming from the outside.

Muybridge Horse Remade

Coming in the near future...

Here's my story board for my soon to be animation...

 

 

 

 

Eye Candy.

Dream catcher in Charcoal and chalk

Here is some of my favorite things I've done.

You can also look at the image larger by clicking on the picture.

Enjoy!

Converse in Charcoal

My Kitchen in Charcoal and Chalk

Figure drawing in Charcoal and chalk



My feet in ink



Sunflower in Acrylic



Signs

Locations of March 28th.
It was a busy day, and rather than mark every detail I decided to map my day through my location.

Jess

& hello.